The Legend of
by BeeLivesHere
Summary: Set in modern times, the legend of Aang and element bending is a mere myth. But the time has come for the old ways to be reborn, in a new super group.
1. Chapter 1

It was late evening, and the frosty air bit at Kayleigh's lips and cheeks, as she swung slowly in the local park. It was cold and the breeze reached it's long fingers through her thin hooded jacket; but she wasn't ready to go back in just yet.

She watched her breath pool and disperse in clouds as she thought of returning to the house. She would NOT call it a home. She lived there with her foster parents and foster brother. He was ten and a brat. But he wasn't the problem. Her "mum" was almost constantly on her case, and tonight, Kayleigh, normally a quiet girl, had finally spoken back. The result had been catastrophic. It had ended in her "mum" ordering Kayleigh out of her sight, and Kayleigh more than willing to oblige. She had realised her mistake as soon as she turned for the door. Where would she go? Where _could _she go? She swore she had heard her "mum" say "And good riddance," under her breath when she left. And that was why she wasn't ready to go back yet.

As usual her "dad" had just sat in his chair half asleep, insisting they all quiet down so he could watch telly. Her foster brother had just walked to his bedroom. She didn't blame him. Fighting was never nice, and even if he was a brat, he was only ten.

She flicked her phone on and noticed she had been out for two and half hours. She still didn't feel ready to go back. She had to though, didn't she? It was already so cold and late. And all her stuff was in that house. She'd already had her phone in her pocket, but apart from that she had only had time to roughly put her worn boots ( her favourite footwear) on, grab this useless jacket by the hood, before she was already half-way down the street with no idea where she was going.

She checked her phone again. Putting it back in her pocket she thought about what she would say to her "mum" once she got back in. If she got back in. That was a scary thought. What if they didn't let her back in. Well, they had to, didn't they? Her "dad" wouldn't bother, her brother would probably just pull faces at her through the window, and her "mum" … ? What would she do?

Kayleigh looked up at the overcast sky through thick lashes.

"One way to find out…" She said to herself, and started meandering down the street lamp lit world that was her town at night.


	2. Chapter 2

Kayleigh shuffled to her front door, and rang the bell. Nothing. All the lights were off, and she rang it again. She put her hands in her pockets for warmth as she heard the shuffling of her "mum's" slippers. The door creaked open and she was met with accusing eyes looking out though mop of bed-head.

"What do you think you're doing?" Came through the open door, in a harsh whisper, Kayleigh pushed her way in, "Waking people up at this time in the night?" Her "mum" closed the door, and looked angrily at Kayleigh as if she were a stranger.

Kayleigh felt annoyed, but her quiet nature had come back over her, and she couldn't face a fight.

"Sorry," She mumbled under her breath and walking quickly to her bedroom. She heard her "mum" muttering and shuffling back to her own.

She pulled her blanket over her in the dark. Her curtain's were open and a thin light from the moon and stars illuminated her room into jumpy shadows and highlights. Slowly she coasted into light sleep, only to awake sharply. She sat up the thin blanket falling to cover her legs only. The room was silent, and empty. She held the edge of her blanket and brought it up to her shoulder, and with her other hand she pulled the other corner to wrap it around herself.

She tiptoed to the door and pulled it open ever so slightly. She saw nothing in the darkened hall, suddenly a noise made her turn on the spot. She stood by her door, looking through her window. She blinked in surprise as a small rock hit the glass.

With one hand she kept the blanket around her, and with the other she climbed onto her bed and reached for the window latch. She did this in a kind of daze; she didn't really know anyone that well at school, she was kind of a loner, and someone was trying to get her attention in the middle of the night? It was very mysteriously romantic, and the kind of thing she daydreamed about, but never actually expected to happen. Had she been thinking at that moment, she might have suspected a cruel joke on the other side of the window. But then again, seeing as she was practically invisible, that might have been equally unlikely.

She pushed the window out on it's hinge, and the cold air rustled her curtains, and made her take a sharp breath. She looked over the edge, and, not in her wildest dreams she have imagined this could actually happen, a boy stood there. An actual boy. A good-looking well muscled, boy, with blonde tousled hair. He smiled up at her, she looked dumbly back. Her first coherent thought was that he must be at the wrong house. His smile was replaced with a look of confusion, and he waved in her eye line, trying to get her attention.

"Hey," he whispered, "Hey, Kayleigh, right?" So he wasn't at the wrong house. She nodded, and managed to close her mouth. He gestured her towards him. She took a deep breath and tried to think. He could be dangerous, he knew her name, yet she'd never seen him before, not at school not anywhere. Yet here he was, this gorgeous boy, calling her name in the middle of the night. She bit her lip, and with pain shook her head. He looked dismayed, genuinely dismayed. It was incredible! "Listen, I just need to talk to you, can't very well do that from down here can I?" He had a slight Australian accent to match his tanned skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. She pulled the window closed, and hesitated for three full seconds. And finally she grabbed her boots, and thicker hoodie, pulling them on as quietly as she could going down the stairs. This was totally reckless, but how much harm could it be to talk a cute boy, seven yards from her own house? Plus interesting things like this, never happened to Kayleigh. She took a key to the front door this time before leaving, and pulled the latch slowly so as not make any sound, and crept out the house.

And there he was. He smiled dreamily as he saw her. "I, am very happy to see you," She had to catch herself from falling into the stereotypical school girl swooning nervously in front a cute boy. Instead she tried to eye him suspiciously. She still, of course, had no idea who he was.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ethan."


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm Ethan, and I need you to come with me." He stood a good few inches taller than her 5 foot 4, but he looked about 15, 16 the same age as Kayleigh. He started to walk away, it looked like he expected her to follow him.

"Hang on." Ethan sighed and turned to face Kayleigh, "I'm, not going anywhere," She said folding her arms across her chest. Ethan's face darkened, he put a hand to his forehead, sighed a second time, and then brought it down again. He looked imploringly at her.

"Kayleigh, I have been looking for you for such a long, long time. You have no Idea, how difficult it is track someone down who you know nothing about." She recoiled. Kayleigh suddenly felt completely creeped out. So this guy had stalked her, and was planning to take her away. Why? He carried on "I belong to a… an order, an underground group of people. We're… Different. Special. And you're one of us." He struggled for words, "I.. look we can't really discuss this here. In the open. It's kind of… classified."

He made a face as if that settled it. It bloody well didn't.

"I'm going back inside." Kayleigh turned to open her front door.

"Wait, we need you there. Come on how much can you want to stay?" To anyone else this would have been crude and maybe even offensive. "Oh come on how much do you want to stay with your warm loving family who've cared for you ever since you were born into it?" But to Kayleigh, it seemed like sound logic.

She knew it was stupid. But, it was too tempting. Cute, although maybe slightly obnoxious, boy had said he _needed her. He had been searching for her, to take her away from the god awful house. No more school. Just a place where she would fit in and be wanted. It was everything she daydreamed about. Something inside her went cold when she thought of leaving her "brother" with her parents alone. But she'd be back by tomorrow. It would be fine. Hopefully. _

"_Ok," She whispered. It was enough. Ethan's face broke into a dazzling smile, he took her hand. _

"_Come on then." He smirked. His hand was warm and strong. Kayleigh blushed, unsure what was happening. But his gentle touch turned into an iron grip around her wrist, and he started to run dragging her along. _


	4. Chapter 4

Together they ran down the street, Kayleigh would have been lying if she'd said she wasn't terrified out of her wits, but she put up no resistance. It was thrilling.

She was out of breath by the time they had gone about three streets towards the main road. The road they stood on was deserted, and bathed in yellow light. For a small while nothing happened. Ethan grinned at her, as if to say "Tada!"

"What?" She asked, looking around. Ethan sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Stand clear," he said pushing her approximately two feet backwards. Facing away from Kayleigh he got down on a knee and started searching through his backpack, using his still raised knee to support it. He pulled out a small rock shaped thing and used it to bang against the manhole cover Kayleigh had just noticed. 3 sharp raps, and then another two.

The thick metal cover began to lift slowly up, and then all the way round till it landed softly on the tarmac about 3 inches from the now exposed hole.. The bottom of the grey-brown cover faced the night sky. It revealed a large grey circle of rock on the underside. Kayleigh looked at it confused. It had just floated… No hinges on invisible string… She looked at Ethan.

"Well you can't bend metal with out touching it, and the earth benders aren't going to stay clinging to the ladder if someone should happen to come along are they?" Ethan said as if it was obvious. He already had himself sitting on the edge of the hole, and deftly lowered himself onto the ladder.

Kayleigh peered after him. Unsure what to do she twiddled with the draw strings on her hoodie. Then when she heard Ethan call up, she scrambled on to the ladder, and down a few rungs. She let out a sharp gasp when the lid suddenly slammed back down. Removing the little bit of moonlight she had to see by. She started to feel her way down the ladder, a red glow was at the bottom of the tunnel. But apart from that, and a vague outline of where Ethan was, she couldn't see anything.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter5.

Eventually she reached the bottom of the ladder, and felt rock beneath her feet. Everything was yellow and grey in the light of the torches. They were lit on the wall all the way down the corridor where they now stood. She hadn't thought it was possible but Ethan grinned even wider. He looked... scary. The whole situation was scary. Where was she? And why did he looked so pleased with himself? She raised an eyebrow and looked worried. Ethan spread his arms out wide and turned in a small circle,

"Welcome, welcome!" As if this dingy, damp, cold place was the most wonderful place to be on the planet, he faced Kay and gave a low bow, still grinning furiously. It was getting annoying.

"Urm, thanks." Kay said hesitantly "Welcome to... where, again?" her right arm held the elbow of her left as she looked at Ethan.

Ethan sighed and dropped his hands heavily by his side. To Kay's relief, his irritating smile disappeared too.

"Not easily pleased are you? This is it! The place where I learned all the great stuff, the place where the great things happen, the pinnacle of... greatness.. " It looked like Ethan might start crying from patriotism to the underground tunnel.

"Yes, because that told me everything I needed to know."

Ethan sighed,

"follow me..."

They were walking through the tunnel, an awkwardness settled itself nicely into the air. Kay wondered why she was here. Why she followed this obviously crazy boy, to an underground place, she'd never known existed. If she'd never known about it... then how can anyone else know about it! This insane boy probably lures lonely girls down here all the time! _Well then. _she thought. _This is the day that I'm never seen or heard of again. And this is where I'm going to die. And I walked/climbed here pretty much all by myself. Well done, Kayleigh. Nice one. _

She was so lost in this thought it startled her when Ethan finally said something.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that?" She asked, _he was probably detailing my own death to me. _

"I said, what's you're story?" _Oh great, small talk with my future murderer..._

"My story?"

"Well, yeah, you're roots, you're family, school? You know," Kay didn't know, it was obvious he wasn't a fan of silence, and although Ethan didn't know it, _he is a psychopathic killer, can't realistically expect him to have people skills, _these were personal questions. Kay wasn't one for awkward silence, but better than awkward conversation.

"Uh, well, I guess, uh..." She suddenly felt shy about coming from a foster home, maybe she should start with school, but what else was there to say about her life that wasn't embarrassing, or boring? She drew a deep breath "My family is me, my foster brother, and my foster parents. I go to secondary school

AN: so, so, so sorry this is like a century or something late, v. busy with my A-levels... I'll try and keep the chapters coming, I have a good Idea of what's going to happen, so the next chapter could be up soon...

...

emphasis on "could"...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Wow." Ethan said, dripping with sarcasm, "Very exciting. Don't go into too much detail now." He was overdoing it. "Wouldn't want to forget any of this rollercoaster ride -"

"-Alright, I get it, okay." Kay took a breath. "My life may or may not be as interesting as yours, but what any business it is of yours, I... cannot, see," Her words started to get a bit jumbled up and she refused to look at Ethan, embarrassed. She tried to tip her head so that her hair would fall over her face.

"Alright, ice-queen." As Ethan said this Kay could almost hear his smirk. "We're almost there now anyway," he said playfully flicking a strand of hair concealing her face. She childishly whipped her hair away from his hand. It only made Ethan laugh.

They turned a corner to face a really old fashioned dark wooden door with a black iron frame. Ethan smirked at how Kay's resolutely folded arms contrasted with her nervous face. "I think your life is about to get a lot more interesting."

Ethan held his hand up to the iron square where the door handle should have been and... What was he doing? He stroked it so that it his fingers met in the centre of the lock, and it looked like he was pulling and invisible string when he sharply pulled his hand to one side.

Kay heard a distinct metal 'clink' from inside the mechanism. Her heart started pounding. Partly because for the second time this night she'd seen or heard something move without it being touched, and partly because she was certain she would see the dead bodies of his previous victims behind the door.

Ethan pushed the door open and sauntered in, stretching his arms wide once more to present his kingdom to her. This time Kay could see why.

The door opened onto a small stone balcony with a wrought iron railing, there stairs leading of to the left. She took a few steps forward until she had both hands firmly on the railing. Kay thought Ethan had never looked so pleased. In front of Kay was a huge circular room with yellow stone walls and red carpeting. Small lanterns had replaced the torches and there were a couple of benches with matching tables in the circular room.

There were four corridors leading away from the large room, the three closest to the stairs were large and darkened, the fourth was small and led straight away to a lit spiral staircase.

Kay looked at Ethan with a raised eyebrow, he smiled back, and for the first time relaxed her face. _This would be pretty elaborate for a murder._

"What are... Where do all those places lead?" Ethan walked forward and leant easily on the railing. He pointed to each in turn.

"Dorms, library, practice, Master Bei Fong" Kay turned to Ethan,

"Dorms? People live here? Like a boarding school?"

"Yeah I s'pose, and like a home... At least for me it's like a home." there was pause as Kay waited for him to continue but for the first time since she met him he seemed quiet. He sighed and tried to laugh at her expectant face. He then looked at his hands which were clasped together in front of him over the rail. He looked Kay in the eyes, and she didn't know what to expect. He spoke in a low voice, as if what he was saying was the biggest secret he'd ever told anyone. "Thing is, we're not normal. But we're not just 'not normal', we're special. We can do these amazing things. We're powerful. No doubt we have power. But we're also just kids... _Some_ of the people here," and the way he said some gave Kay the idea he meant himself, "they've grown up with the adults in their lives trying to use them for their power. They've spent they're lives running, and finally found a safe space here with Master Bei Fong. We're his students, not his army, or something to be looked down on, or a freak show used to earn money." Ethan quickly swallowed. He indicated the ground beneath their feet. "So this, this is home to me."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kay was wondering what she should say. She supposed she could relate having never really felt at home. But she struggled to put it into words. Ethan laughed again, and Kay was almost happy to see his cheeky grin, it seemed to be his default expression.

"Well it's not much," He laughed, but it seemed slightly out of place. "But it's better than I have a family and I go to school," He tried to tease Kay by gently pushing her shoulder. She smiled. It suddenly felt easy to smile with Ethan.

"Ahem," A fake cough made Kay jump. She turned to look at the source. An elderly man stood at the spiral stair case entrance. "Care to introduce me to our guest." The man aimed at Ethan. Ethan ran down the steps two at a time, Kay followed more hesitantly.

Ethan stopped to bow to the man, putting his hands together oddly.

"Master Bei Fong, this is Kayleigh. Kayleigh, Kayleigh come on," She was still half way down the steps when Ethan started introducing her, so she ran the rest and gave a short awkward bow. "Kayleigh, this is Master Bei Fong." He said impatiently. He then turned his full attention to Bei Fong, and Kay had the impression she was turning invisible. "I found her, I found Kayleigh," Ethan looked like a puppy wagging his tail waiting for a treat.

"I see that Ethan." Bei Fong turned to Kay "It's good to finally meet you Kayleigh," Kay just looked at him shyness getting the better of her. How did these people know her name?

"You too," She said quietly from over Ethan's shoulder. The old man chuckled at her shyness.

"Follow me; I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Bei Fong turned and walked into the corridor previously labelled as "Library". The corridor was only a few meters in length. When they came to end it opened out smoothly into a dark wide room. Bei Fong moved to a set of switches on the wall.

"Hmm, that's funny," He muttered to himself. He then turned all the switches around, and the large room lit up revealing its true splendour. It was filled with row after row of dark brown shelves, each filled with tomes, dusty old books, scrolls and even the odd glass case containing some artefact. Ethan lent down to Kay's ear

"Master Bei Fong built the whole place using his earth bending,"

"His what-" She asked but either didn't speak loud enough, or was just plain cut off,

"It's supposed to look like this giant underground ancient library own by this owl spirit," Bei Fong looked back at his guests, and motioned them to follow him down one of the isles.

"Follow me, oh and we may have company." Kay followed behind Ethan nervously rubbing her wrists. They were both a couple metres behind Bei Fong.

"Christ Kayleigh, you're hands'll fall off if you keep that up." Kay looked down at her wrists they were slightly red, but she didn't understand what his problem was. She sighed,

"It's Kay by the way. Not Kayleigh. I mean Kayleigh's on my birth certificate, and that's what my "parents" call me." She put parents in quotes "But my friends call me Kay," Kay had exactly one friend who called her Kay, and she moved away a year ago. But Kay had liked having a nick-name. Ethan raised his eyebrows,

"'s'cute." He said. It was obviously meant in an off-hand way, but Kay felt like she was blushing all the same. _Don't look at me, don't look at me, and don't look at me. _She thought while simultaneously wishing away her uncalled for blush. Although Kay didn't see it, Bei Fong smiled.

They reached the end of the isle where a space had been cleared for reading. There was a bench and table like in the main room, a couple of candles were lit on the table, and piles of books stacked up, and on the bench sat a small girl, Kay guessed around 14, nose deep in a massive old book.

"Doing some late night reading?" The Asian girl's head shot up. She quickly turned her eyes to Ethan, then Kay then back to Bei Fong. She looked a little embarrassed and smiled as she slowly closed her book and put it back on the table.

"Urm, well yes."

"Don't you think it's time you went to bed?"

"Yes..." She started to gather the books up, it seemed impossible that such a small girl could hold so much "I'll just put these back," The pile became precariously tall, and Ethan rushed forward and took the top half off of the pile.

"Here I'll help," He said smiling at the girl. She blushed and hid her face before murmuring a "Thank you".

"No problem," He said breezily. Key could see her growing smile behind her book pile. It was clear Kay wasn't the only one to find Ethan so attractive. They moved off into the various parts of library. It was just Bei Fong and Kay. She started to wring her wrists nervously again.

"Now I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," Bei Fong removed a scroll from a near-by shelf, and rolling it out over the length of the table, "I know Ethan likes to talk, but often not about the important things," Kay kept silent, it was true she had no idea what she was doing here, but the whole thing about this place seeming like home, seemed pretty important. Bei Fong motioned her over to the scroll, "Come look."

She walked over the table, and saw four pictures, of four people in various poses. "Do you know what these people are doing?" Bei Fong asked, Kay just shook her head and carried on studying the pictures. "They are what used to be known all around the world as bending."

"A kind of martial art?" Kay asked.

"Well. Yes and no. It has often been used in combat and defence, but it has other uses. Bending is the... art of moving something with your mind. So to speak." Kay stayed still, _He's absolutely crazy. They're all crazy. _"There are four elements that can be used in bending. Earth, water, air, and fire. Benders use the energy from their spirit to move their specific element, these movements, amplify and direct the energy. It takes years and years to master. That is why the students are here, that's why we try and find the young benders. So they can learn their element, until they have mastered it."

"So you only get one element?"

"... Yes. Although, each generation. An avatar is born. One person with the power to manipulate and master all four elements. But the avatar is another conversation. I do not know why, but ages ago, bending seemed to die out. It stuck around in peoples' minds, uh, kung fu, karate, etcetera. But people with the actual skills to do this," He pointed at the people moving earth, air, water and fire in the scroll. "Haven't been seen in centuries." His face brightened considerable when he looked at Kay and said "But, it was not forgotten. My mother could earth bend, and her father, and so on, and so can I. And it was prophesised, that one day bending would seem to disappear, and return to save the world, and with that prophecy came 5 names, and 4 nations." He opened the second the scroll, it was a map of the world, and each continent was one of four colours. "This is how the world used to look, divided into four nations, that's how we knew where to look, and who to look for. And I have found my fourth person with you. He opened the glass case and Kay could see the faded brown parchment more clearly. Bei Fong pointed to her name, and read out what was there "Kayleigh... ...water tribe," He chuckled lightly "As if I couldn't tell from your complexion and blue eyes that you didn't once come from a water tribe," He smiled as if that was all the convincing she would need.

"So, I can move water with my mind and movements. And you can move earth. Can Ethan too then?" She said trying to hide how sceptical she was.

"Yes, Ethan is a water bender too, that girl you just saw, Lei, is an earth bender like me, there is another student, Assad, who is a fire bender. We are just missing, a Joanne, who is our air bender." Ethan came back just at that moment.

"Lei's gone to bed. And all the books are back where they belong. So," He turned to Kay, "You know everything now?"

"Yes and it's wonderful, really," She was feeling so tired, she tried to check her phone surreptitiously it was REALLY late. "I'm sorry for keeping you up so late, and if I'm honest I'm feeling really tired myself, so it's probably best I go home now." Ethan looked confused,

"Home, don't you want to... I mean you have a dorm with your name on it, you can stay?" Ethan said as if there wasn't any reason why she wouldn't want to stay in a dark, underground, unknown place with strangers. Bei Fong smiled,

"Ethan I think you should escort Kayleigh back to her house, she lives so close, she doesn't really need to stay here does she?" He turned to speak to Kay, "The dorm is a last resort, and really just for those who want to travel with us."

"Travelling?"

"Yes, I expect we'll be moving on in a couple of months. To find the air bender. Ethan?" Ethan, who looked confused beyond being confused, suddenly relaxed his features into an easy shrug.

"Alright, each to there own, lets go."


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry this chapter has got me. I hope this is ok. :S Please review, and let me know if I'm going in the right direction.

They walked back along the corridor, this time accompanied by Bei Fong. Ethan's pace was significantly lower now that he was walking away from the place he loved. He walked next to Kay, both of them behind Bei Fong. Everyone was silent. It was something about Bei Fong that made Kay uneasy. It felt like him and small talk didn't go together. Whereas Ethan was normally all about saying anything to fill a silence, he was subdued. He looked like he was thinking hard.  
>The silence made Kay nervous and she started wringing her wrists and pulling on her hoodie sleeves.<br>"Stop that," Ethan said quietly without appearing to even look in her direction. Kay gave one last defiant tug to show she didn't care, but stopped anyway.  
>They walked a while longer and Kay could have sworn it didn't take this long last time.<br>"Here we are, oh dear. Feels like rain." Bei Fong remarked. "I'll open the hatch when you get to the top.  
>Ethan went first climbing the ladder; Kay gave a small smile to Bei Fong, and hesitated,<br>"Bye," She said suddenly and started climbing.  
>"Good bye Kayleigh," The light dimmed as they reached the top. The cap, just as before lifted itself up and let them leave, replacing itself just as Ethan had finished giving Kay a hand up. Just as Bei Fong predicted it was raining. Kay started to run,<br>"Wait," Ethan said grabbing her wrist to slow her down. Ethan looked around to make sure no one was looking. He moved as if he was performing ballet. But as his arms came back up, the water followed his movements. Kay was no longer being rained on, but the rain bent its path around them. She looked up in awe. So it was all true...  
>The dome started moving,<br>"Come on," Ethan said, as he moved forward holding his arms up. She ran a few steps to be next to him.  
>"So you really wanna go back home do ya?"<br>"Yes," Kay said quietly, she didn't really. But she didn't have a choice, did she? "That," She said pointing to the dome above them, "Can I do that?" Ethan grinned.  
>"Yes, I'll teach you," They reached her front garden, and walked into the shelter of the porch, Ethan relaxed his arms. "Now-"<br>"Sh" Kay said putting a finger to her lips, "They're asleep," She whispered.  
>"Ok," He whispered back, and rolled his eyes. Using one hand he pulled a hand-full of raindrops from the air, with his hand open they all floated still in front of it, he clenched his hand into a fist and the raindrops merged into a small ball of water. Kay was amazed.<br>He opened his hand, and led the water towards Kay. "Take it from me," He said. Kay raised an eyebrow, Ethan nodded. She raised her hand and tried to mimic Ethan's pulling move. Nothing. She sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Hey, hey," he said getting her attention, "You gotta focus. It needs a lot of concentration, water bending. You have to feel the energy go through you to the water. Try again," Kay did not feel like trying again. She was in a freaking prophesy, and she still wasn't special. It was obvious she would not be able to water bend. Or worse that this was a joke and she fell for it. Nonetheless, Ethan did look very persuasive with his wide grin. She concentrated on the water moving towards her hand. She started beckoning it almost. Nothing happened for a while, until a small drop left Ethan's hand, and then followed by a trickle, slowly but surely all the water found its way into a ball now cradled in Kay's hands. She felt amazing.  
>"I did it," She looked up at Ethan, full of pride for herself. Ethan laughed, and chucked her chin, all the water fell through her hands onto the porch floor,<br>"Ha-ha, right, well I guess I'll see you later." He jogged off into the rain with the dome above him. When she saw the dome she didn't feel so proud of her achievement anymore. She felt her face where he had touched her, shook her head clear, and, as silently as she could, opened to the door and went to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: thankyou for your patients (is that right? Because it feels like i'm saying plural patient), I'ma try and update weekly from now on ;) no promises.

Kay woke up at the harsh bleeping of her alarm clock. 7 am. She shut the alarm clock off, and swung her legs off the bed. She shuffled, zombie like, downstairs, and started making breakfast for herself. She started eating her cereal at the breakfast bar, when her "mother" shuffled in herself. She yawned as she reached for her own breakfast,  
>"Well, I hope you're in a better mood now than you were last night,"<br>Kay nodded, quickly finished her cereal and ran to shower and pack her bag for school. She heard her "mum" sigh as she left.  
>It was only 7:45 by the time she'd finished getting ready for her school. She sat on her bed in her school trousers, shirt, blazer and tie. All of which she loathed, and therefore usually dragged out the process of pulling it on as long as possible. She'd have to wait for at least 15 more minutes before her brother was ready, and "mum" was ready to drive them to school.<br>She didn't want spare time, because that meant that she could think. And if she thought it might all come back to her. What had happened last night. And she'd have to face the truth that it was a dream, or fantasy or something just utterly unreal. Her eyes wandered to her water bottle. She placed her hand on top of it. She didn't want to try in case she failed. She shook her head and zipped her bag up. It was still quarter to, and it would take her half an hour to walk, she would be on time if she left now.  
>She walked down the corridor and peeked into her brother's room. He was lying face down with his covers ruffled at the edge of the bed. She guessed this would be another day where her brother (sometimes herself) made them late.<br>Decision made, she ran down the stairs past her mum,  
>"Bye, I'm walking, bye!" and out the door. She practically skipped down the street, lest her "mother" should run out after and make her wait the extra excruciating 15+ minutes.<br>After a few streets it became easier to focus on walking. A couple other students walked and cycled past her as she got closer to the school. Mostly ignoring her. Her first lessons went by slowly, while she mainly just watched the clock. She spent break sitting near her friends on the small patch of grass on the outskirts of the school. The topic of conversation this day: Who knows? Kay didn't say a word.  
>"So how was your last lessons?"<br>"Boring. Yours?"  
>"Same." And that was pretty much it. Then Kay sat through another two lessons of clock-watching. Leading to lunch, during which a very similar conversation occurred. It occurred to her, just how much of her life she spent waiting. Waiting for a lesson to finish so she could go to lunch, waiting for lunch to be finished so she could wait for yet another lesson to end. She watched some boys play football on the tennis courts (which also served the school as netball, hockey, and outdoor basketball courts) in front of them. She was lazily aware that the conversation was turning to a boy. She watched one boy with curls like Ethan's tackle effortlessly and take aim.<br>"He was in my English lesson,"  
>"OMIGOD reeeeeeeallly?"<br>"Yep. And he's like really smart, and, get this, he sits diagonally behind me,"  
>"Noooo, you are like so lucky."<br>"I know and I asked to borrow a pencil from him, but then frickin Jenny had to ruin it and offered me one."  
>Kay was used to this kind of conversation. Omigod this guy he's new he's so cute, he totally lent me his ruler, and like looked right at me. The two girls were forever fawning over someone. Sometimes Kay joined in, but she felt strange just laying out her feelings like that. The boy in the goal caught the ball, and the boy who shot reacted by running his hands through his blonde hair and turning.<br>"The best part is definitely his accent, Australian is so cute." At this Kay's ears perked up, she turned to look at the girls, then quickly back to the make-shift pitch. But just as the boy was about to turn in Kay's direction, the bell rang out. Everyone started filing off of the courts, and the field, and the tarmac and into the buildings. But Kay kept her eyes on the boy with the blonde curls. He stopped to talk to another boy who gestured towards the ball which had been left on the "pitch". When the boy turned to get the ball it was away from Kay.  
>"Hey Kay, come on we've got biology together," Lizzie looked down at Kay, and offered a hand to help her up, Kay kept her eyes on the courts.<br>"Yeah, yeah, I'll -" Kay was about to say 'catch you up', but at that moment the boy turned and faced Kay directly for a split-second before running off. It certainly looked like Ethan. Or did he? Kay looked at Lizzie's out-stretched arm and took a hold of her hand. Grabbing the strap of her all too heavy bag. " 'K' let's go."  
>Once they were in the building the other girl started climbing the stairs immediately to their left, giving a short wave to the other two, who made their way to the science block.<p>

AN: Thanks for reading, any reviews, critisicm, helpful hints, are welcome and wanted. Have a good week xx


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Look at me keeping up with my weekly regiment, you'd think I was organized or something. Right, on with the show! New chapter next monday. Please enjoy and review. :)

From that moment every boy with blonde hair looked like Ethan. But hadn't she made it up? Hadn't she dreamt it? Kay struggled to keep up with Lizzie as they squeezed through the teeming corridors. By the time they reached biology Lizzie had aligned herself with the back of the queue for the door and Kay was jogging there herself when the rest of the class were called in.  
>Everyone was shuffling into the classroom, when Kay felt a tap on her shoulder. She knew who it was. She stopped walking, willing herself to turn around, and face the disappointment that the person tapping her shoulder was in fact not Ethan. But she still so totally hoped it was.<br>She heard his voice before she'd turned all the way around  
>"You know, this really isn't my thing." She looked into his grey eyes,<br>"I know, Underground tunnels and ancient secrets are more your thing." She answered smoothly; she didn't even stutter or anything! He broke out into his had-to-be-trademark-or-something grin,  
>"I can't believe you chose this life over that,"<br>"Well I can't believe your life is even real."  
>"Ooh, that stung," He mocked being hit in the chest. Kay rolled her eyes. They were still shuffling along, nearly there. Lizzie stepped inside the classroom, Kay had one foot in the doorway when Ethan grabbed her elbow and pulled her out of the doorway and further down the corridor.<br>"Hey-" Kay said, but stopped as she watched the classroom door close. Ethan turned to her and was smiling  
>"What? You can't honestly tell me you want biology and not water bending?" Kay looked back at the closed door; well it looks like I won't be missed. She'd never skipped school before. She sighed.<br>"Alright let's go." They started off walking at t normal pace, but after reaching the bottom of the stairs and noticing a teacher a few metres away they started power walking in the other direction. Kay couldn't help but smile as the situation became more and more silly. Dodging teachers, ducking under windows, it was all they could do not to laugh, which they did after stopping to catch their breath when they were finally of the school grounds.  
>"You see, my life is so much more fun,"<br>"Yes, but... um..." Kay sighed and settled for punching his arm playfully. "Alright then, what are we doing, in this fun life of yours?"  
>"Well." Ethan sobered and looked about. "Urm. This way." He pointed down a random path and started walking.<br>"Are you sure?"  
>"Yeah, yeah totally. Gotta' get lost to find what you're looking for."<br>"That makes no sense, but ok."  
>"It's fun ok, you don't need to plan everything, just be spontaneous," Kay thought he was full of it, but he put his arm around her a squeezed, so she really wasn't in the mood to argue.<br>They turned one corner and were on a market street. Stall vendors called out loudly, bright colours swathed the street and the smell of sweet fruit mingled with fried foods.  
>"See, fun." Ethan looked smug and sauntered off into the crowds. Kay rolled her eyes and followed him to crowd. They were around a man sitting on the floor playing the guitar and singing. Ethan moved on quickly and stopped at a trinket stall, and took his time wandering around and looking at everything on offer. Kay followed suit.<br>He walked quickly letting his eyes wander over everything quickly, Kay was walking close behind him and nearly bumped into him when he stopped in his tracks and quickly reversed. He pointed to a small blue necklace looking confused. He then quickly picked it up and examined it.  
>"What is it?"<br>"It's a, uh, a tribal necklace. Well. Not a real one. Maybe."  
>"It doesn't look tribal." It was a blue ribbon with a round white pendant. The pendant had intricate swirls etched into it.<br>"It's water tribe. I don't know that much about them. I think I read somewhere the adult women of the tribe wear them, a rite of passage? I don't know. I just recognise the style."  
>"Do you think it's authentic?" Kay sad reaching for the pendant to look at it closer<br>"Nah, these particular tribes were ancient. This is in too good a condition."  
>"Or maybe someone looked after it very well." They both looked up to see the elderly stall vender giving them a kind smile. "It's a betrothal necklace, when a man proposed to a woman, instead of the ring we're used to, he would carve and create one. It's a family heirloom. I've had to replace the ribbon, but the ivory is as it was all that time ago."<br>"It sounds so precious, why would you sell it?" Kay asked. Did this woman know about water bending? Was she a water bender? The woman sighed.  
>"I have no one to give it to." She lowered her voice to a whisper "I want it to stay in the water tribe."<br>"Alright then," Ethan smiled widely. "How much?" The woman just looked at Ethan.  
>"You don't look water tribe." She turned and smiled at Kay. Kay silently compared their complexions, and realised they looked similar, dark skin and hair, but blue eyes.<br>"I don't have any money," Kay said quietly. The old woman leant back, seeming to be in thought. She lent forward with a secretive smile, she whispered,  
>"I'll give it to you for free, if you can really prove you're truly water tribe." She sat back once more and winked at Kay.<br>"Hey I'm water tribe," Ethan said defensively. He pulled the bottle of water from Kay's school bag unscrewed it placed in on the counter. The woman quickly put her hand over the top of the bottle.  
>"Here? With all these people to see? Hot-headed aren't you?"<br>"I was gonna be careful," The woman removed her hand from the bottle, pulling up a small globe of water in her palm, and let it fall in a wine glass a couple inches away. Ethan did the same with ease.  
>"See, water tribe." He spread his arms wide. Kay imagined he was saying "Who's the king! Who's the best!" in his mind over and over. Having seen him do more impressive things, she realised this exaltation wasn't entirely deserved.<br>She felt the woman's expectation. Just Ethan doing wasn't enough. She wouldn't give them the pendent if she couldn't prove herself as well. Well, heck, how much did they want the necklace anyway? Kay realised this was about proving herself. Not the necklace. But the thought didn't make her want to do it any more.  
>She placed her hand over the water bottle. She willed the water to move up. Just a tiny bit. Nothing. She moved her hand like the woman and Ethan had, willing it with all she had. Nothing. She started to get frustrated with herself. She felt so keenly the judging eyes of the woman and Ethan. She felt so embarrassed. After her fourth try she gave up,<br>"It's not working!" she stage whispered, flinging her obviously non-water bending, useless hand downwards. The water bottle tipped and spilled out over the floor and Kay's school shoes. She was in shock. She looked up and smiled. Proud. Ok it was no rain dome, but she had done it. The stall vender smiled.  
>"A little practise in control, and I think you'll have it." She handed the necklace over.<br>"Thank you," Kay slipped her now empty water bottle back in her school bag, and she and Ethan left the street.  
>At the corner Ethan made her stop,<br>"Here," he said, taking the necklace gently from her hands and tying it around her neck. She held her hair up and felt chills run down her back as his fingers brushed the back of her neck. "It looks great"  
>She smiled, and blushed as they continued walking. <p>


	11. Chapter 11

Kay felt the weight of the necklace as the walked through the stalls and the crowds, which were gradually thinning as the day wore out. As twilight fell Kay and Ethan found themselves in on a park bench sharing a warm bag of chips. A fountain played in front of them, and Kay suspected this was why Ethan had chosen this bench.  
>"So is everyday like this for you?" Ethan shrugged, looking down from his position on the back of the bench rather than the seat.<br>"Sort of, like, there's a lot of training, and reading. But it's mostly exploring. Moving about the city. Preparing for-" Ethan stopped abruptly. Kay looked about to see the thing which had stopped him.  
>"Preparing for what?" He gave a goofy grin,<br>"Teaching." Kay smiled and turned her attention back to the fountain.  
>"Oh," He meant her, he was going to teach her water bending. Going into the cave didn't seem so bad. They sat in each other's company and a comfortable silence was pecked at by the wind and fountain. Distant traffic honked and rumbled. Birds flapped and the trees rustled. It felt so unreasonably comfortable, and lovely. It felt like any moment it would all be ripped away. Ethan and Kay looked at each other for a second,<br>"Come on, we'd better be going," He said nudging her arm and moving off the bench. They walked out of the park and along the now empty dusky streets.  
>"Where now?" Kay asked.<br>"Home I suppose,"  
>"Which is in what direction?" Kay thought she knew where they were in relation to her house, the high-street, school, but not the caves.<br>"Urm." Ethan stopped and scanned the area.  
>"...You don't know?"<br>"No, of course I know.. I just, lost my bearings for a second, here it's this way," Ethan said, confidently striding down an ally. Kay followed until they came to a dead end. She folded her arms and smirked. He laughed back,  
>"Well, you know, if we could go through this wall, we'd be right there I swear."<br>"Yeah, alright,"  
>"What, you don't believe me?"<br>"Oh sure, I believe you." Kay said sarcastically, they both laughed as they walked retraced their steps out of the ally.  
>"Goin' somewhere?" A man came out from the shadows, they hadn't noticed.<br>Ethan grabbed Kay's hand as her heart rate accelerated. Ethan tried to just walk past the guy, but he stood purposefully between them and the exit of the ally. Kay's heart started pounding.  
>"Right, what do you want?" Ethan said, sounding brave.<br>"Well," the guy gave an wicked grin. "Little birdy told me, you have someink a' might interest me."  
>"We don't have anything."<br>"Now, that's not true is it?" The man looked at them with a patronizing stare, "Get 'em," The guy said, almost casually. Ethan pushed Kay behind him, and assumed a defensive stance when another two men came round the corner. They were skinnier than their boss, and Ethan recognised one of them.  
>"You again? What a wonderful pleasure." Ethan spat out.<br>"The pleasure is all mine," The second of the henchmen pulled a rope tight around his fists, while the first aimed to grab Ethan so as to restrain him to hold his hands behind his back. Kay gasped, they were going to be kidnapped, and ransomed, or sold to a freak show, or used in an evil army. She felt helpless. She thought they were done for. All they had on their side was water bending, and she'd spilt all the water they'd had on them.  
>But Ethan was too fast for them, he ducked out of the first one's reach, sending him off balance and landed a blow on his kidneys. The second man wasn't close enough to grab Ethan with the rope, and out of desperation misjudged and made it easy for Ethan to avoid. Kay looked around, still helpless, for anything that would help. There was a dripping drain pipe next to her.<br>The first man recovered quickly and then set his sights on Kay. She screamed as he advanced and she made to water bend the drops. They froze and plinked harmlessly off of him. Ethan swiftly avoided another grab and using his water bending gathered all the water in the drain in one swift movement, and in the next was using the water as a whip. Hitting at the seconds face to make him back off. The first hesitated from the surprise of seeing water bending for the first time. Big mistake. Ethan brought the water onto him and froze it in cuffs against the wall, effectively immobalizing the first henchman, then moving on to freeze the seconds hands together.  
>The boss was gone. Ethan grabbed Kay's hand once again and they ran together. Kay ran ahead of Ethan, fairly certain he didn't know where they were and led him to her house. She was so petrified every time her legs and lungs complained she imagined them on her heals and it spurred her on again.<br>She almost collapsed on her front lawn. Between her breathing and her heart beat in her ears she hardly heard Ethan's footsteps towards her. He put her hand on her shoulder making her jumpt. He was out of breath, but, annoyingly, not as out of breath as she was.  
>"Come on, we have to get back to the caves,"<br>"More running?" She all but whimpered. He managed a goofy smile,  
>"Nah, we can walk this one."<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

They dropped down into the gloomy cave. Kay was ready to burst. What had even happened?! How?! Had they just escaped kidnapping, or, what? She couldn't help it, but as out of breath as she was, the reality of the situation was catching up on her, she lost control of her breath, and her eyes welled. She covered her face with her hands as her knees started to feel weak.  
>"Hey, hey," Ethan's soft tones coaxed her out of her panic, or was it the warmth of his hands over her shoulders, the gentle pressure he applied while squeezing them. "It's ok, you're ok, and you're safe."<br>Kay sniffed dumbly looking up at his face. He did his classic half smile and looked into Kay's eyes. She did feel safe. His hands left her shoulders brushing her arms as they did.  
>"What did they, what did they want?" Kay asked in a dry voice.<br>"Us." Kay's eyes widened to extremes, and Ethan struggled to find the words. "Look it's nothing to worry about," Ethan laughed slightly, "I handled it, it's fine," Kay looked at him incredulously.  
>"No," She said bluntly, "No it's not fine, it's so totally not fine in anyway anyone could ever define the word fine!" Kay started pacing, "We were almost kidnapped, kidnapped! That might be an every day occurrence for you, normal even, but it is not for the rest of the world, and it certainly isn't for me!" She turned and pointed at his chest "You "Handled it"" She made mock quotes in the air, "But you can't always handle it, and I definitely cannot. Safe? SAFE?! I'm not safe, not now I've been affiliated with you and this... stuff! I was a no one! Barely anyone knew my name, let alone, thugs like that, and that was the definition of safe!"<br>Ethan had folded his arms and puffed his chest out. He was clearly annoyed, but Kay didn't care, she was annoyed, she tried to stare him down. He never warned her that this could happen. Her resolve broke the teeniest bit when she remembered she'd basically let him kidnap her in the first place, or at least given him every opportunity.  
>"Finished?" Ethan said, his face looked different, unsettling. She didn't like it. She made no reply. Ethan took a slow breath. "Alright so you were safe when you were a no one, but were you fine?"<br>"Yes."  
>"Really?" Ethan raised an eyebrow and laughed. Again it was unsettling; it was like he was laughing at her... well he was, "You were happy? Content?" She didn't budge.<br>"I thought so. So," He raised his hand and ticked off a finger to show he was counting, "You weren't fine before, and you're not fine now, nothing's changed. Secondly, you weren't safe when you were a "nobody". Those guys may seem like a random bunch of guys, but they're organised. They know as much about the scroll down at the far end of that library as we do. It was a race between them and Master Bei Fong, it always has been."  
>"A race to... find me?"<br>"Yup, and everyone else training down here. Including yours truly." He sighed, "And when they moved onto hunting you, we had to find you, to make you safe. So," They had both visible calmed down and Ethan had his usual grin that screamed big ego, he raised his hand and ticked of the second finger, "without our intervention, you're unsafe, but with me, need I remind you, it was me that took on two fully grown men, who was prepared to take on a third, with nothing but my bare hands and a leaky drain pipe, to save you, you are safer." Kay said nothing. She felt like maybe she should apologise for ranting, but she felt so guilty, and suddenly shy. He had helped her, and in return she shouted at him. No matter how big his ego was, he kind of earned it. Kay remained silent.  
>"Yes, yes it was, rather a spectacular show. I heard." Master Bei Fong was shuffling down the corridor towards them.<br>"Thank you," she said quietly to her feet. Ethan's eyebrows knitted as if he didn't understand.  
>Master Bei Fong reached them, "Well, well," He looked at Ethan, smiling. "Two grown men, little water, very resourceful, no permanent damage to the men in question," Ethan looked proud, then Master Bei Fong, rapped him on the side of his head. Ethan rubbed his ear looking put out, "Are you crazy?" It sounded like Bei Fong was asking Ethan an actual question like, 'What's 12 multiplied by 8?'<br>"No, I'm not crazy,"  
>"Well, why don't you stop acting like you are," His eyes grew large, as he leaned toward Ethan, who in turn leaned back. Bei Fong straightened up, "Come, on." He started moving back down towards the circular room, muttering to himself.<br>They found themselves in Bei Fong's office. It was a crowded space, with books and hangings. Closets and boxes. It was warm and had an orangey glow from the oil lamps. Bei Fong sat in an ornate wooden chair, padded out with red velvet. Ethan started lounging in a threadbare arm chair directly opposite until Bei Fong ordered him to stand with a sharp gesture, and gestured, more softly, for Kay to sit down in the chair. He turned a stern eye on Ethan.  
>"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"<br>"Well, yes, I was the-" Bei Fong raised a hand to silence him.  
>"Why didn't you stay next to a strong source of water? Why did you wander aimlessly in the dark, when you know that there people looking for you?!" Kay watched as Bei Fong scalded Ethan. "You should have come home earlier, when it was light! You should have told me where you were!" It was strange. To Kay at least, that Bei Fong was shouting, but there was love behind it. "Now because of your recklessness, you nearly got yourself kidnapped or killed, and what's worse is you dragged Kayleigh into the whole thing, making them aware of her presence, of her general whereabouts, and of course you revealed the general location of our hide-out."<br>"Well what could I do?" Bei Fong stood up.  
>"You have to take precautions to avoid these situations!" He hit his hand and dragged out the syllables in situations to emphasize his point. "You're dismissed." Bei Fong sat down looking angry, but mostly disappointed. Ethan looked ashamed. "Take Kayleigh and show her, her dorm." Kay looked surprised, "You can't go back tonight. It's too dangerous at night." He muttered to himself but Kay caught a snatch of it "Wouldn't be surprised if they had a shirshu after her." Ethan solemnly left the office and Kay quickly followed. They turned down the dorm corridor, it was the same yellow stone interspaced with plain doors, and all were closed, except one. A boy with dark skin was sitting inside doing bicep curls. He looked up as they walked past.<br>Ethan held the last door open for her.  
>"This is yours," Ethan said downcast. It was a small simple room, somehow warm. Ethan turned a dial and the room's light burned. "'Night,"<br>"Wait, where's your room?" Ethan half smiled and pointed to the door diagonally opposite to hers. "Ok," then partly because he looked like it might cheer him up, and partly because she desperately wanted to, she squeezed his hand quickly, "'Night," then made to close the door. He smiled at her and moved towards his own room. She closed the door and collapsed on the bed.


End file.
